An expanding Cannabis Culture

By
Dana Larsen
on August 24, 2000

Welcome to an expanded magazine, and the first issue of our special “New Zealand/Australia edition.”Initially our plan for the NZ/Australian edition was to add eight pages of content and ads which would only appear within copies sold in that region. But it seemed a shame that we were not sharing these great stories with our readers in North America and elsewhere.

So instead of a special section, we’ve added eight pages to the whole magazine, with an added commitment to cover news from Down Under. And not coincidentally, this issue is even more Australian than usual, with our feature coverage of the Nimbin Mardi Grass adding to our other NZ and Aussie content.

We are honoured to include an article by New Zealand Green Party MP Nandor Tzancos, the world’s first Rastafarian MP, who has openly promoted pot-tolerance during his time in office.

We are distributing our magazine into Australia in open defiance of censorship laws which forbid explaining how to grow and use our sacred plant. These laws, including the impending US Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act, are designed to destroy our blossoming culture, as are prohibitions on our cultural implements, like the bong ban recently brought into force in New Zealand.

Facing down such censorship is not new to us. In Canada, where our magazine is based, we are also banned. All “literature for illicit drug use” is forbidden in Canada, under threat of heavy fines and jail time. Yet Cannabis Culture has blossomed and thrived despite such attempted censorship. Our magazine has been seized from many store shelves since we launched CC in 1994 ? we simply resupply them with more copies and soldier on.

Cannabis Culture is dedicated to liberating our sacred plant, to freeing the flow of information about cannabis and other entheogens, and to making the world safe for herb lovers everywhere.

We encourage all of our readers to correspond with us, but I am especially calling out to our newest readers in Australia and New Zealand. Send me your stories, photographs, comments, ideas, grow tips, and anything else you want to share with your ganja-smoking brothers and sisters around the world.